Column: Traveling with guns can turn into a nightmare

Tuesday

Aug 5, 2014 at 12:31 PM

Any new gun law in the Northeast corridor can have far-reaching implications.

Lee Williams

If I lived in New Jersey, I’d be committing more than 100 felonies, 24 hours a day.The Garden State’s stringent regulations on the types of firearms, magazines and ammunition it allows would criminalize most of my collection, especially the modern sporting rifles, standard-capacity magazines and controlled-expansion ammunition.

Possession alone is enough for criminal charges “up north.” No criminal intent is required. New Jersey even regulates Airsoft guns, which for those unfamiliar with Airsoft, are toys.

New Jersey isn’t alone. There is a growing schism in this country — a new divide of sorts between the haves and the have-nots.

In this case, it’s got nothing to do with money.

It’s got everything to do with individual rights and personal freedoms.

While it would be easy to engage in a bit of southern Schadenfreude regarding our northern brothers, don’t.

What happens in the Northeast can affect all of us, and besides, it’s harming good people.

Just ask Shaneen Allen.

Allen is a 27-year-old single mom from Philly, who had a valid Pennsylvania concealed carry permit. She strayed across the border into New Jersey last year, was subsequently stopped by police, and told the officer she was armed with a .380 Bersa Thunder.

She was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and armor-penetrating bullets.

She’s now facing a three-year mandatory minimum sentence.

Sure, as a concealed carrier she should have known where her Bersa was welcome and where it wasn’t, but not every armed citizen is as schooled in the law as they should be, especially those who work long hours to put groceries on their table for their two kids.

Her criminal case is pending, and a legal defense fund has been established: (http://gogetfunding.com/project/shaneen-allen-legal-defense-fund).

Any new gun law in the Northeast corridor, such as Maryland’s recent ban on more than 45 types of “assault weapons,” can have far-reaching implications.

They can serve as a dangerous template for politicians in other states who often cut-and-paste gun control statutes from other jurisdictions, especially if they have been vetted by the courts.

How many times have lists and descriptions of firearms taken from California’s overly harsh gun laws surfaced elsewhere — renamed and repackaged but still as goofy and severe?

A large section of the country that’s unfriendly to guns — and most Northeastern states are far from gun friendly — raises travel concerns for gun owners, since even driving through certain states with a firearm is perilous. It makes relocating for a job difficult, vacations with firearms are impossible, and it is driving business away.

Beretta is fleeing Maryland for the greener confines of Tennessee. So far, dozens of firms have voted with their feet.

You would think that the loss of thousands of jobs throughout the Northeast would have slowed down the region’s drive for stricter gun laws. In fact, it only seems to have emboldened lawmakers.

Massachusetts is debating a bill that would allow police chiefs to determine whether someone can own shotguns and rifles — a first of its kind.

And don’t forget Washington D.C., where both concealed and open carry were legal for just three days, before a federal judge issued a 90-day stay on his own ruling: the judge essentially overturned himself for three months.

The disparate treatment gun owners receive throughout the Northeast strikes at two of the fundamentals of American law: reasonableness and fairness.

While these unreasonable restrictions on type and capacity may be legal under state law, they are certainly far from fair, and definitely violate the “shall not infringe” wording on a very special document, which predates all of the Northeast’s recently-enacted gun laws.

– If we don’t run into each other at the range, you can reach me at (941) 361-4975, by email at lee.williams@heraldtribune.com or by regular mail, 1741 Main St., Sarasota, FL 34236. You can also follow me on social media at www.facebook.com/TheGunWriter or www.Twitter.com/